Welting and its method of manufacture



y 29, 1941- I w. c. VIZARD 2,251,178

7 WELTING AND ITS METHOD OF MANUFRCTURE I Filed June 20, 1940 PatentedJuly 29, 1941 WELTING AND ITS IWETHOD OF MANUFACTURE William C. Vizard,Brockton, Mass, assignor to Barbour Welting Company, Brockton, Mass, acopartnership composed of Perley E. Barbour, Walter G. Barbour, andRichard H. Barbour Application June 20, 1940, Serial No. 341,467

6 Claims.

This invention relates to welting for shoes, and to its method ofmanufacture, andmore especially to the production of beaded welting ofthe type which is provided with a bead extending along its top facebetween its side edges and adapted to lie closely against the shoe upperwhen incorporated in a shoe, the bead being formed up from an integralflap of the material of the welting and supported and held in positionat the inner edge of the welt extension by an integral part of the flapapplied to the inner margin of the base portion of the welting and sewedtogether therewith in the inseam of the shoe. An example of such weltingis disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,828,728,October 27, 1931, issued to P. 0. Arnold and myself and in certainaspects the present invention may be regarded as an improvement on theinvention disclosed in said patent.

In order to raise a bead on the upper face of a strip of welting, whileproviding sufficient material in the flap to enable the latter to extendover the inner margin of the welting sothat it may be sewed in theinseam of a shoe, the process of forming up the bead in accordance withthe prior art must be initiated with a fillet that is wider than thefinished welting. Inasmuch as most of the welting is made fromrelatively expensive grain leather, a great deal of attention has beengiven in the art to the developnrent of processes of manufacture ofbeaded welting wherein the width of the fillet from which the welting isfashioned may be reduced as much as possible. I The principal object ofthe present invention is to bring about savings in stock beyond thosepossible in previous types of beaded welting and their processes ofmanufacture.

A feature of the invention resides in a form of beaded welting whereinthe fillet from which the welting is fashioned is of no greater widththan the Width of the finished product and a further object of theinvention is to attain these ends without sacrifice in the amount of thewelt extension nor strength of the welt bead or sewing edge.

To these and other ends the invention resides in the novel features andcombination of parts to be fully described hereinafter.

In the drawing,

Figures 1, 2 and 3 are views, in perspective, illustrating the first,second and third cutting, respectively, in the welt strip;

Figure 4 is a view, in perspective, showing the bead of the Welt partlyfolded, with the head core in its ultimate position before finalmolding, and

Figure 5 is a view, in perspective, of the fin-- ished welting.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, the weltstrip I0 is proalso applicable to welting formed of other weltingmaterials. In accordance with the invention the fillet from which thewelting is formed will have a width no greater than that of the finishedwelting. Thus in the present instance the process of manufacture will beinitiated with a square edged fillet inch in width.

Three cutting operations are performed longitudinally of the strip insequence, as illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3. In describing thesecuts, those towards the grain face will be called upwardjf those towardsthe outer edge outward and those towards the inner edge inward. Thefirst cutting (Figure 1) comprises an oblique slit l3 leading upwardlyand outwardly from a point near the lower corner I 4 of the inner orsewing edge l5 to a point about A; of an inch from said edge and of aninch from the grain face II. The cut is then continued at I6 from itsupper edge parallel to the grain face II and towards the outer edge I!of the strip, forming a flap l8 joined to the strip along a linecentrally of the Width thereof. It will be observed that the cut l3leaves an inner or free end IS on the flap which is of wedge-like shapeof an inch from the inner edge l5 in an inwarddirection towards saidedge and at an oblique angle to the surface II, the out terminating at apoint about of an inch from the grain face H and of an inch from theedge I5. It will be noted that the cut 2H form's an outwardly extendingintegral lip 2! on the upper inner edge of the flap which lip, as Willappear hereinafter, may be swung towards the inner edge I5 to form aninseam lip as a continuation of the flap 8.

The third cutting (Figure 3) consists in the formation of a roundedupper corner 22 on the inner edge iii of the strip, the arcuate cuttingedge of the knife making the cut removing a string 23 from the corner,the radius of the out being of an inch with its center at the inner endof the out 20. The removal of the string 23 leaves the lip 2| joined tothe fiap with a portion of an inch in thickness, the lip being ofdecreased thickness towards its free end.

Upon completion of the cuts described above the welting is ready forforming up of the bead and it will be observed that the flap from whichthe bead is to be formed consists of a part joined to the body of thestrip along a line centrally of its width, the flap extending inwardlyof the strip to the inner edge thereof and the thickened portion of theflap at the inner edge l forming a triangular, sectioned core for thebead, and the outer margin of said fiap forming a cover strip for thebead core.

During the forming up of the bead, the flap is opened from the body ofthe strip and the inner surfaces of the flap and body of the strip arecoated with cement whereupon the flap may be folded, the core l9 beingseated with its heel 24 on the shelf 25 formed on the body of thewelting by the cut IS. The forming up of the bead may be assisted byfirst passing the welt strip through a molding machine prior toapplication of the cement, such pre-molding forming up the elements sothat the bead will stand correctly for further molding after applicationof the cement, the second molding pressing the cemented surfacestogether into the condition shown in Figure 4.

After forming up of the bead, the grain surface 26 of the lip 2| may becoated with cement as may the beveled surface 21 at the inner margin ofthe body of the Welt strip, the lip being folded inwardly with respectto the strip and pressed downwardly into contact with the surface 21.Except for the channel 28 for the inseam stitches, the welting is nowready for use in the manufacture of shoes. The channel may be made' inthe bottom or flesh side of the welting after forming up of the bead ormay be made prior to the cutting operations for formation of the fiap.

It will be understood that the dimensions given above relate to theproportions of inch welting and that these may be varied by thoseskilled in the art to suit the particular demands of a shoemanufacturer. Moreover, the size of the bead may be varied by changes inthe size of the bead core which may be conveniently brought about bystarting the cut I 3 higher or lower in the edge 15 of the strip. Thuswhile a specific embodiment of the invention is described herein indetail it will be understood that the same is capable of variation andmodification within the scope of the appended claims.

It will also be evident that when a grain fillet is utilized, aspreferred in making the improved beaded shoe welting, the welt extensionand the outer face of the bead present grain surfaces; whereas the innerface of the bead and the exposed surface of the lip cemented to thebeveled inner edge of the body portion, are ungrained. The ungrainedsurfaces will, of course, be concealed when this welting is built into ashoe, so that the appearance of the welt is not impaired. Furthermore,any imperfection in the surface appearance of the welting itself is morethan offset by the substantial economies resulting from the productionof a satisfactory beaded welting from a grain fillet no wider than thefinished welt.

What is claimed is:

1. Beaded shoe welting made from a grain leather fillet no wider thanthe finished welt, comprising a body portion having an outer,grainsurfaced welt extension and a beveled, flesh-surfaced inner'edge, aflap portion integral with the body and folded upon itself to provide abead extending longitudinally between the inner edge of the weltextension and said beveled edge, and a lip portion incised from andintegral with the flap portion having its grain surface applied andcemented to said beveled edge, the exposed face of the lip and the innerside of the bead presenting ungrained surfaces and the outer side of thebead presenting a grain surface.

2. The method of making beaded welting which comprises slitting a filletof welting leather along its inner edge outwardly between the upper andlower faces of the fillet to form a flap, forming a relatively thin lipalong the inner end of the fiap by an incision in the upper face of thefiap extending inwardly towards the imier free edge of the latter,folding the flap between its ends to form a bead, folding the incisedlip portion of the flap inwardly and downwardly, and applying said lipto the inner margin of the body of the Welt.

3. The method of making beaded welting which comprises slitting a filletof welting leather along its inner edge outwardly between the upper andlower faces of the fillet to form a flap, forming a lip on the inner endof the flap by an incision in the upper face of the flap extendingdiagonally downwardly towards the inner free end of the latter, foldingthe fiap between its ends to form a bead, folding the lip downwardlyaway from the bead, and applying the lip to the inner margin of the weltbody.

4. The method of making beaded welting which comprises slittinga filletof welting leather longitudinally at its inner edge to form a bead coreand a cover strip connecting the core to the body of the fillet,slitting the core at its upper face in an inward direction to form aninseam lip, folding the core within the cover strip and applying the lipto the inner margin of the fillet body.

5. The method of making beaded welting which comprises slitting a filletof welting leather longitudinally at its inner edge to form a triangularbead core, a beveled sewing edge on the flesh portion of the body and acover strip connecting the core to the body of the fillet, slitting thefillet in its upper face above the bead core in an inward direction toform an inseam lip, folding the core within the cover strip and applyingthe lip to the beveled sewing edge.

6. The method of making beaded welting which comprises slitting a filletof welting leather longitudinally at its inner edge to form a triangularbead core, a beveled sewing edge on the flesh form an inseam lip,folding the core within the cover strip and applying the lip to thebeveled sewing edge.

WILLIAM C. VIZARD.

